When Boulder's housing authority asked neighbors for their ideas about how to include the public in planning for a "Housing First" apartment building at 1175 Lee Hill Drive, they got an earful.

Some respondents expressed support for the project's goal of providing permanent housing for 31 chronically homeless individuals, but dozens of respondents said they still don't want the project at all. Many more expressed distrust in Boulder Housing Partners' willingness to include them in the project.

"There's nothing worse than the facade that someone or a group is taking people's voices or concerns seriously by soliciting input, but then disregarding it," one survey respondent wrote.

Stuart Grogan, Boulder Housing Partners' director of development, said the responses were not a surprise. After several contentious public meetings before the City Council in April affirmed its support for the project, which is allowed under the site's zoning, housing authority officials know that many people in north Boulder don't want Housing First at that location.

Nonetheless, the comments let Boulder Housing Partners know which issues it needs to be sure to address, Grogan said.

"It's really good to see all the things that people are concerned about so we can make sure they get a proper hearing and are properly dealt with," he said. "What we heard from the survey was a lot of really good questions and concerns and comments, and we're trying to build a process that will allow a lot of people to be engaged."

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Members of the North Boulder Alliance, which organized around opposition to the housing project but also is concerned about what they view as an over-concentration of affordable housing in north Boulder, said they're concerned that Boulder Housing Partners will pick neighborhood representatives who already agree with the housing authority. They also worry that Boulder Housing Partners has not committed to reaching consensus around the project's statement of operations or plan for how the facility will be run.

"I worry that if they handpick the neighbors -- and they have lots of supporters in the community who will go along with what they want -- that there won't be anyone pushing back," said Gail Promboin, a member of the North Boulder Alliance.

The survey, which Boulder Housing Partners started in July, was filled out by 372 people. Most people described themselves as somewhat informed or very informed about the project.

When asked to prioritize the issues around the design and operation of the housing project, respondents said resident eligibility and selection, followed closely by resident accountability, were the most important issues.

As the name indicates, the Housing First model seeks to address homelessness by providing housing. It's aimed at chronically homeless people who have not been able to change their situation with available resources. Residents do not have to be sober.

In descending order, respondents said they were also concerned about resident support services, property management, property management accountability, the process for responding to complaints related to the building itself, the process for responding to offsite complaints, and the building design.

The proposed building site is right next to a bus stop on Broadway that is used by schoolchildren as well as adults commuting to work.

A majority of survey respondents said they wanted to be involved in the process of developing the operational plan, with 24 people saying they would be willing to spend as much as one to three hours a week working on it. A larger group said they would be willing to spend a few hours a month.

Respondents said an elected or appointed advisory group made up of community members and in-person focus groups about specific issues would be the best way for Boulder Housing Partners to get community feedback.

The agency plans to form focus groups in September and have an advisory committee start working on a draft statement of operations in October, with a goal of finalizing the document by the end of the year.

Grogan said Boulder Housing Partners is still working on how members for those groups will be selected.

Promboin said it's essential for neighborhoods to select their own representatives, rather than having the Boulder Housing Partners board pick the members. Some neighbors also are concerned about statements from housing authority officials that their goal would be consensus, but that if consensus cannot be reached, they would go with majority rule.

Promboin described majority rule as "the easy way out" of such a contentious project and said enough people in north Boulder will be able to engage constructively.

"The more active organizers of the North Boulder Alliance know it's going to be there, and it's about mitigating the impact," Promboin said. "We're also working hard to make sure this sort of blindsiding and lack of public process doesn't happen again."

Boulder Housing and Human Services Director Karen Rahn said the city would remain involved in the process of developing a management plan, and human services representatives would attend all the meetings.

A board appointed by the mayor governs Boulder Housing Partners, but the housing authority is independent from the city.

Rahn said she was hopeful the public process would address community concerns.

"We would expect a mixed perspective about the project from the community and maybe some mixed feelings about the project," she said. "It is very difficult to meet everyone's needs. However, it is really important to have a public process, and BHP has committed to really listening to everyone."

Karie Koplar, another member of the alliance, said she held back her real feelings and tried to be constructive in her comments on the survey. When she read the other responses, she knew she wasn't alone in her lingering anger over how the project came to be.

"A lot of the comments included the fact that people just don't have confidence in what's happened in all the time since council approved the project," she said. "People are just as dubious as they were before."

Councilwoman Lisa Morzel, who lives in north Boulder and was the lone council member to vote against the housing project, said there needs to be a constructive dialogue between community members and the housing authority -- and then the project needs to move forward.

"It's really important that BHP not be afraid of north Boulder residents and that each side sit down and recognize each other's point of view," she said. "BHP needs to understand that people are invested in their community and want to have a say. I think BHP wants to not have any naysayers."

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